Multi-image gallery honors lives lost in the Holocaust

The Holocaust Memorial Center will host two gallery talks with artist Linda Soberman regarding her exhibit, The Empty Chairs, at 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. on Aug. 23.

The multi-image installation memorializes lives lost in the Holocaust, international war and conflict and global genocides that continue today. The more than 100 steel chairs cascading from the ceiling from invisible thread represent a tangible way to connect to and remember the cultures and individuals who have passed. Speaking to contemporary concerns of human freedom, tolerance and indifference, the piece is meant to awaken the consciousness by questioning social and political values and show that loss is universal.

The focus of the installation is the chairs, which are attached to transparent faces of those who no longer “sit at the table.” Panels behind the chairs represent the absent body. What is left are printed images of truncated legs and feet and barely visible faces which are a reminder that, while images and memories fade in and out, photographs keep those lost in our minds.

Scattered around the room are empty picture frames signifying individual and family portraits of those who have passed — the gilded frames represent art confiscated from Jewish families by the Nazis.

Furthermore, surrounding the sculpture is a “Circle of Memory” with chairs for 10 people to say Kaddish, the Jewish prayer for the dead. Visitors are invited to sit in the circle to reflect on individual and collective loss, as well as provide comments or write the name of a loved one on a scroll as they exit the exhibit.

“I create art that has meaning, helps us ask difficult questions and encourage dialogue, reminds us of man’s inhumanity to mankind, and lastly, to never forget so that such horrible events will never occur again,” said Soberman.

Created in 2013, The Empty Chairs is continually growing and changing. It was exhibited at ARTPRIZE in Grand Rapids, the Museo de Arte de Queretaro in Mexico and Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center in 2014.

A resident of Bloomfield Hills and San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, Soberman is an award-winning printmaker and educator who works in national and international venues as a fellow and resident. She has used many forms of media, including photography, books and installation.

The talks, which are free with museum admission, are being held with support from PNC Foundation, Janice and Christopher Billmeyer, Pamela and Kenneth Bloom, Joan and Robert Epstein, Nancy and James Grosfeld, Sandra and Martin Nessel, Marilynn Gordon and Fay and Leon Siegel.